Hypertext
is supposedly an invention of the computer age, but the scribes
of medieval manuscripts
had their means of dealing with multiple texts, either simultaneously
on one page, or through crossreferencing. There are various means, for
example, of handling bilingual texts.

Segment
from the late 7th century Lindisfarne Gospels (British Library, Cotton
Nero D IV f.5), showing the 10th century interlinear English gloss. By
permission of the British Library.

Latin
works of the Anglo-Saxon era sometimes had a running translation inserted
as an interlinear gloss.
In the famous example above, this was not part of the original conception
of the work, as the translation has been added several centuries after
the Latin text. However, it has become part of the page design of the
work as it was read and used by the monks of Northumbria. Try doing that
with your industrial book production system.

There
were various techniques for designing a page to accommodate English and
Latin texts from the beginning.

Certain
texts had commentaries in the form of glosses as part of the page design.
The glosses could then be transcribed
along with the main text when the book was copied, so that preparation
of the page for copying involved ruling up the areas for the main text
and the glosses. Careful calculation and accurate writing must have been
involved in the preparation of these texts.

Page
of a glossed 14th century copy of Virgil which belonged to Petrarch and
was glossed in his own hand (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, im Ausstellungssaal,
f.35). (From Steffens 1929)

This
example shows a typical arrangement, with the main text in a large Gothicscript, set out
in the normal method for poetry with an enlarged initial set apart from
the beginning of each line. The gloss is in a smaller, compact script
around two sides of the main text, with an even tinier script added at
the bottom of the page. It was not unusual for the gloss to be longer
and denser than the main text and the page layout itself demonstrates
something of the cumulative nature of literate knowledge in the middle
ages, as core texts carried along an ever increasing weight of commentary.

Glossed
works included Bibles,
theological and philosophical works, works of literature, works of law;
almost anything that could be commented on, was commented on. In the case of the Bible, the gloss was itself a standard text which was transcribed when the book was copied. Books produced
in the universities were heavily glossed. The academic habit of having
two bob's worth to say on everything not only began in the middle ages,
it was codified into the design of the literature they produced. The gloss
was the academic footnote of the middle ages.

A
glossed page from a 15th century German copy of Virgil. By permission
of the University of Tasmania Library.

This
example shows an untidy working copy of a Classical text, heavily annotated
with both marginal and interlinear glosses. While the scribe has taken
the trouble to create a large decorative initial, the general appearance
is much more of a working study copy than a carefully constructed page
layout. Note, however, that the original text is set out with plenty of
room in the margins and between the lines for the additional text. We are often told that Latin words were abbreviated in many texts to save every inch of valuable parchment, but page layout often used parchment quite lavishly to provide the wide margins for annotations and glosses. Perhaps there are other reasons for abbreviation, but that is another story.

These
aspects of page layout might be regarded as entirely functional solutions
to problems of presentation of information rather than decoration. Nevertheless,
there are aesthetic criteria that are being conformed to. There are proper
ways of setting out bilingual text or glossed texts that make them visually
pleasing and significant. Having the correct formal properties makes them
works of importance.

Hypertext
relationships were not only constructed by placing multiple texts on a
page, they could be constructed with indexes or concordances. The most
commonly found examples of this approach are the canon
tables of a Bible.

Upper
part of a page containing the canon pages of a large late 12th century
Latin Bible (Paris, Bibliothèque St Geneviève, MS 8-10,
vol.III, f.129b). (From New Palaeographical
Society 1907)

The
function of these tables was to match up sections of the four gospels
that referred to the same episode in the life of Christ. While they were
constructed as a simple table with the chapter and verse numbers of the
different gospels aligned in rows, somewhat like a modern spreadsheet,
they were part of a decorative page with a certain prescribed formula.
The tables were entered under an architectural canopy of Classical form,
often with painted miniatures
or decorative detail. Again, page layout has a specific function, as well as a particular aesthetic expectation.

Writing
could escape its horizontal linear boundaries in diagrammatic representations
which might be heavily annotated with text. Text appeared in scrolls or
was occasionally even written around in circles. Although horizontal lines
of text were the general rule, text and image could be integrated in visual
representations.

This
diagrammatic representation of the Holy Trinity is found in the upper
lights of a 15th century stained glass window in the parish church of
Thornhill, Yorkshire.

Thie above diagram has appeared in manuscripts, despite having been regarded as a heretical conception at one time.

The
miniatures displayed in the Raimundus
Lullus Ikonographie website include diagrams festooned with captions
and scrolls attempting to explain philosophical concepts.

In
summary, book page design was grounded in a conservative conception, to
which were added various elements, the function of which was to render
the text more comprehensible or accessible. All the page design elements,
from enlarged initials to annotated diagrams, could be considered as practical
solutions to problems of information presentation. They also enhanced
the value of a volume and represented aesthetic values of their day. They
are decorative, but not trivial.

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This
site is created and maintained by Dr
Dianne
Tillotson, freelance researcher and compulsive multimedia and web
author.
Comments are welcome. Material on this web site is copyright, but some
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